Biography

I got my first degree in Chemistry in 1999 at the University of Pisa. After my degree, I spent one year working in the laboratory of Prof. G. Catelani at University of Pisa Department of Pharmacy (2000). After this short fellowship, I decided to go to Lausanne to work in the laboratory of Prof. M. Schlosser at EPFL (2001). After one year I flew to UK, where I got my PhD in chemistry in 2006 at the University of Sheffield (UK), under the supervision of Prof. C.A. Hunter. During my PhD I have been involved in the different scientific experiences. I have worked at AstraZeneca Macclesfield (UK) with Dr. J. McCabe in the crystal packing determination project (2002). I have worked at AstraZeneca Alderley Park (UK) with Dr. M.J. Packer (2004) in studying protein-ligand interactions by docking approaches. These experiences give me the chance to learn team working and sharpened my organizational skills, the importance of the economic impact of the research, the full life cycle of drug development, the ability to work with speed and accuracy. Main outcome was a new docking scoring function based on chemical shift perturbations. After my PhD in UK I returned to Italy in Milan at the Hospital San Raffaele to be in direct contact with clinical research. I was focused on protein-protein protein-ligand interactions. In 2011 I become principal investigator of “Modulation of integrin-binding selectivity: a computational approach” AIRC project. In September 2013 I moved to IIT in the Drug and Discovery Department to study new enhance methodology in drug design. My main interests in the life science field are:
1. conformational search and analysis
2. protein-ligand and protein-protein interactions
3. rare events
4. semi-empirical scoring function based on NMR data
I normally exploit computational approaches such as Docking (HADDOCK, Gold, Autodock, Glide), Molecular Dynamics (Gromacs), Free energy calculations and enhanced molecular dynamics (Metadynamics).